By admin 
Last December, the San Luis Obispo County Department of Airports shut down the Oceano Airport for a three-hour community holiday event that featured a drone show, real snow, dozens of Christmas trees, a hot chocolate bar and free airport apparel.
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The price tag for the first-time event added up to over $166,000, according to documents obtained by the SLOcal Activists’ Coalition.
The local watchdog group submitted a formal complaint to the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors on July 1 alleging that the Cleared for Cheer event was “an embarrassing waste of time, money and resources.”
In the complaint, the coalition called for an audit and investigation into the Oceano Airport’s funding and expenditures in the aftermath of the costly event.
“What did Oceano literally get? They got to watch a drone show for 20 minutes and play in the snow for five,” activist and Oceano resident April Dury told The Tribune. “At the end of three hours, poof. It’s all gone.”
The watchdog group compiled information detailing expenses and county correspondence through a plethora of public records requests.
The Tribune looked into the complaint’s allegations and the county’s response as part of its Reality Check series.
SLO County Director of Airports Courtney Johnson said the holiday party held on Dec. 13 was a community-focused event that not only “introduced many visitors to their local airport for the first time,” but also supported South County families during the Christmas season through a toy and food drive.
Other community members, including Oceano business owner and former San Luis Obispo County supervisor candidate Adam Verdin, said they were apprehensive about the high cost to host the event but believed it was a positive experience for local residents.
“I’m a businessperson, and I’ve never seen a list of expenditures where I’ve ever been entirely comfortable with, and so I think that the right response to that is that you know where you can improve, you improve,” he told The Tribune. “But you don’t just stop something that I think is very beneficial to a community, which I think to a large extent has been ignored.”
How did Department of Airports spend $166,000 on holiday event?
Dury said she decided to attend the Cleared for Cheer event after receiving a flyer in the mail in November.
The free event publicized a drone show, snow play, hands-on crafts, live music, food trucks and a holiday makers market. It also encouraged attendees to bring a non-perishable food item or an unwrapped toy to donate to Lucia Mar Unified School District’s Families in Transition Program and the Salvation Army.
When Dury entered the airport, she was immediately struck by how completely it had been transformed into a Christmas spectacle.
Adirondack chairs and fire pits were placed around the tarmac. A snow area held 65 tons of ice where children threw snowballs and built snowmen. And all attendees could grab a free steaming drink from a catered hot chocolate bar.
“It was visually wonderful. It was beautiful, of course — I mean, I would imagine $166,000, it should be beautiful,” Dury said. “So many twinkle lights and Christmas decorations with glitter and sparkle. It was very winter wonderland.”
As she walked around, alarm bells started to go off in her head. “This is a lot of money. I can tell already,” she said she thought at the time, especially as she was handed free swag embossed with the airport’s logo.
According to documents procured by the SLOcal Activists’ Coalition, the county Airports Department spent at least $166,527 to host the three-hour outreach event.
The department paid more than $29,000 on ice, fencing and flood prevention for the snow area and $23,000 on the drone show, the documents showed. Rentals for tents, tables, chairs, heaters and fire pits added up to more than $50,600.
Free beanies, blankets and flashlights for guests cost around $9,225, while the hot chocolate bar totaled $3,625, according to the documents.
Several one-time purchases were also made to outfit the inaugural holiday event, including 48 fake Christmas trees purchased from Walmart, Amazon and Balsam Hill bought for around $9,300 and a few sheepskin and snowflake-themed rugs bought off Amazon and Wayfair for over $1,300.
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The complaint also alleged that the Lucia Mar Unified School District was the only recipient of donated food and toys.
Johnson said the airports department was not able to establish a partnership with the local Salvation Army, so all donations were directed to the school district instead.
Notably, 2025 was also the first time in 15 years the Friends of Oceano Airport did not host its annual holiday toy drive, Toys for Tots, at the airport, the SLOcal Activists’ Coalition said.
“So sad the toy drive was canceled,” local pilot Mike Brown said in a Facebook comment at the time. “We had seven planes filled with toys ready to head your way. Luckily we were welcomed at Lompoc’s event.”
During the Cleared for Cheer planning process, Johnson said the airports department invited the Friends of Oceano Airport to discuss opportunities to coordinate and participate.
The group did not respond to The Tribune’s requests for comment.
Verdin said The Toys for Tots and Cleared for Cheer events were both “very worthy causes” but served different purposes. Toys for Tots was devoted to collecting and donating Christmas toys to South County children, while the latter was focused on bringing the local community to the airport.
County supervisors unanimously approved funds for Oceano Airport holiday event
On Nov. 18, the SLO County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $500,000 from the airports enterprise fund for maintenance, sustainability and community engagement projects at the Oceano Airport.
The enterprise fund is generated from airport user fees, such as airline terminal rents, aircraft landing fees, parking revenues and rental car customer facility charges, Johnson explained. It operates independently of the county’s general fund, which is supported by taxpayers.
The airports enterprise fund can only be used for eligible airport purposes, Johnson said.
According to the staff report, $210,000 was specifically carved out for community events — with more than $166,000 ultimately spent on the Cleared for Cheer holiday function.
“In essence, it was a blank check,” activist Julie Tacker said, calling it a “shocking” amount of money to spend on a three-hour function.
District 4 Supervisor Jimmy Paulding said he was not aware that more than two-thirds of the community engagement funds would be spent on one gathering.
“I can see why it may raise concerns,” he told The Tribune in a statement. “While the airports department has been directed to better connect the Oceano Airport with the community, this expenditure will require an internal review to determine if it was appropriate or if there are improvements necessary to our review and approval processes for funding large public events.”
He said the review would be an important step to determining if the department’s community engagement goals could have been achieved at a lower cost. In the future, Paulding pledged to more heavily scrutinize budget requests from the airports department.
At the same time, Paulding, who attended the Cleared for Cheer event, said it should become an annual function, calling it a “wonderful holiday celebration” that highlighted the Oceano Airport as a community asset — though he added that any upcoming events must be “planned and executed in a fiscally responsible manner.”
Johnson told The Tribune that airport enterprise funds were appropriately spent “in accordance with the approved budget and applicable county procurement requirements.” She said the department intends to host the event again this December, with plans to make it an annual event.
“As with any inaugural event, the department identified opportunities to improve logistics, partnerships and event delivery, and those lessons will be incorporated into future community events,” she said in an email.
This story was originally published July 27, 2026 at 10:46 AM with the headline “This CA county department threw a $166,000 holiday party at the airport. Why?.”
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